In the case of an emergency assistance system, when an emergency is identified, it is possible to automatically stop the vehicle, wherein the final positioning of the vehicle is performed in the simplest case where appropriate after changing lanes directly on the right-hand lane or, if a hard shoulder is present, on the hard shoulder. This positioning is not optimal in the normal case.
However, if the stopping position is selected on the basis of digital maps, the following situation occurs. The digital maps that are used in this case generally do not comprise the necessary level of detail for optimizing the vehicle position at the stopping position. If it is identified using only digital maps that by way of example a hard shoulder is not available, it is possible for the vehicle to be brought to a complete standstill in a traffic lane that is in use and then to represent a traffic obstruction.
Disclosed embodiments provide a method for optimizing the positioning of the vehicle when automatically stopping the vehicle in the event of the driver being unfit to drive.